Iran

A report from a United Nations panel found that remnants of missiles used in Yemen’s civil war originated in Iran, showing that Iran did not block the transfer of ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution, CNN reported Monday.

UN Security Council Resolution 2216 demanded that member states “immediately take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer” of arms to parties in the Yemeni civil war including the Houthi rebels.

While the report also faults Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition to fight the Houthis and support the internationally-backed government of Yemen, CNN reported, that ” a significant portion of the report blames Iran” for its actions in Yemen.

“The Panel has identified missile remnants, related military equipment and military unmanned aerial vehicles that are of Iranian origin and were introduced into Yemen after the imposition of the targeted arms embargo,” the report reads. “As a result, the Panel finds that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in non-compliance with paragraph 14 of resolution 2216 (2015) in that it failed to take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer, of Borkan-2H short-range ballistic missiles, filed storage tanks for liquid bi-propellant oxidizer for missiles and Ababil-T (Qasef-1) unmanned aerial vehicles, to the then Houthi-Saleh alliance.”

The UN report, which has not yet been officially released, appears to support charges made by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley at a press conference last month, that Iran is the “arsonist” in the Middle East, destabilizing the region by transferring arms to terror groups.

At the press conference, Haley made remnants of missiles and other armaments available to show that Iran was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which formalized the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and which extends an embargo on Iran from transferring ballistic missiles to other parties for eight years from the time the deal was implemented in January 2016.

This past August Reuters reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had stepped up its arms smuggling to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. One source told the news agency, “No activity goes ahead in the Gulf without the IRGC being involved. This activity involves a huge amount of money as well as transferring equipment to Iranian-backed groups in their fight against their enemies.”